Improvement in gas-carbureting machines



B. F. GRIMES. Gas GaxrburetingMachines.

Patented Aug. 25,1874.

UNITED 'STATES PATENT OFFICE BENJAMIN F. GRIMES, OF FLORENCE STATION, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN GAS-CARBURETING MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 154,475, dated August 25, 1874; applicatior led June 25, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. GRIMES,

y of Florence Station, in the county of Freble v and State of Ohio, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Garbureting and Gas-Generating Machines; and* o hereby declare that the following is a fu l,Iclear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked theron, which form a part of this specification, in `which-- Figure 1 represents' a side elevation of an v apparatus having my improvements applied thereto; Fig. 2, a vertical section of the same;

and Fig. 3, a sectional View of a moditled form of feed-valve.

' My invention relates to a new and improved construction of apparatus for generating gas for illuminating purposes from the more volatile of the hydrocarbon oils, suchas gasoline, Snc., or for carbureting the gas of ordinary city gas-works, which, asa rule, is usually poor, and the light-yielding element from the absence of.' a sufficiency of olefiant gas -or V'heavy carburet of hydrogen; and its nature cons/ists, first, in a new and improved device for automatically feeding the carbureti'ng or gas-generatingv chamber with the hydrocarbon compound or oil from which the gas is generated; secondly, in a new and improved construction ofthe gas-generating chamber, by means of which the air or gas to be carbureted is made to passV in an upward and zigzag direction through the carburetingchamber by dividing the latter into a series of compartments, each filled with sawdust or My apparatus, in the lirst place, is formed in two main divisions, the upper one, A, of which consists of the oil chamber or reservoir, and the lower one, B, of the carbureting or gas-generating chamber, the two being separated by a division-plate or diaphragm, C. The supply tank or reservoir A may or may not be filled with sawdust or Iother suitable porous or fibrous material up to the dotted line D; but I prefer to fill it with such material, as such renders it less liable to explosion, and for other reasons here unnecessary to be detailed. The top of that chamber is provided with a vaulted roof, S, which extends upward for a distance above line I), to form a gas-chamber, whence the gas is drawn directly through suitable connections with the distributing-pipe for consumption, or indirectly by being led to a mixing apparatus for further admixture with air, it' such is deemed either desirable or necessary. This arrangement, however, for mixing the air is only used where the gas generated results `froln the use of air as the menstruum of takthe moment a light was applied to the gasyburner. A small tube, a, is inserted in the top of this chamber, to the upper end of which is secured, in any suitable manner, the pipe that connects with the gas-distributing pipes, or, as the case may be, with the air-mixer, and .which latter, as perfected by me, will hereafter form the Aseparate subjectmatter of another application for Letters Patent. Another opening is also formed in the vaulted roof, which is provided with a screw or removable cap, the use of which, it being fitted with a small mouth-piece or tube, b, for the purpose, is to ll the reservoir or chamber A when necessary, this being indicated by the use of two cocks, 'c c-the one, o, at or about the line ot the top of the sawdust or line D, to indicate when the chamber is sufficiently full, and the other, c', at or near the bottom material E, for a purpose to be hereafter eX- lineof the uppermost compartment, F2,for a of chamber A,.to indicate when it is nearly empty. The inner mouth of the cocks c c', as well as tubes a and b, may' be covered with a piece of fine wire netting or gauze, so as to exclude therefrom the sawdust or other fibrous material with which the chamber A is partially illedto prevent them from clogging up. 1 The lower or carbureting chamber proper B is divided into several distinct compartments, each of which, like A, are filled with coarse sawdust, or other loosely porous or fibrous plained. In dividing this chamber into ythese compartments, the partitions F used are slightly inclined in opposite directions to each other, as shown in Fig. 2, and are each profv vided at or near their lower -sidewith an opening fitted with a short section of a tube, d, the upper end of which must lie in a plane below the higher side of its partition, so as to form an overiiow. yBy means of these short tubes d each compartment is pro vided with a channel or communication with each of the others in regular succession. The lower partition, F1, differs in its form from that of the others, being made of a dish or funnel shape, and is provided with its short communicating tube d at its center or most depressed portion. Its communicating tube d is made larger in diameter than thatof the others in order to give passage to an upright tube, G, the lower end of which is secured to the top of v a neat-chamber, H, while its upper end passes through the partitions F in succession, land rises above the sawdustpurpose to be hereinafter describeft On the bottom e of chamber B, in its lowest compart-j nient V, is erected and firmly secured a small chamber, H, closed onV its 'sides and top, which forms what I term the {ioatchamber, and in the top of which is secured thelower endof tube G, before referred to. Into this chamber is arranged a float of conformable shape, which may be made, of any suitable' material or constructedin any suitable manner in order to render it buoyant. To thel upper side of this float K, in a verticatplane, is secured a lever or rod, f, which passes through and extends for a short distance above tube G, when said float rests o'n the bottom of ,chamber H. To the upper end of rod f is connected, byl means of a hinged joint, a lever, g, pivoted at i to a hanger, h, which is secured to and depends from the under side of the bottom C of chamber A, as seen in Fig. 2. The other end of lever g is widened to present a broad surface for the support and actuation ofthe stem of a slide or lift valve, l, arranged in a valve-chamber, m, formed in or otherwise v secured to the outside of the apparatus; or, if desired, it may be so made, arranged, and` operated as to be inclosed in chamber A; but I prefer, for various reasons, to arrange the valve chamber on the outside ofthe apparatus-for instance, by so arranging` it that openings covered by suitable caps -may be so made therein as to give access to the valve for repairs or. adjustment, should such become necessary. Vith.. this view I construct it as follows:l A short section of a tube, L, isiny serted into and suitably secured to the side of the'apparatus immediately` below the line of thevbottom of chamber A, and above the line of the top of the surface of the partition F of the uppermost compartment of chamber B. The outer end of this tube I close with a cap, and into its-upper side insert the section of another and smallerA tube, N, to form the valve-chamber proper. For this purpose the -bo'ttom is provided with a diaphragm, n', into the center of which is inserted a hollow guidestem, o, for the reception of the stem p of the valve b, as shown in Fig. 2. The valve is made of a width suihcientloosel'y to iit the inl terior ofthe valve chamber N, and rests on diaphragm a when the valve is not raised byr the action of lever g. The adjacent faces of the valve l and. diaphragm n are turned smoothly oif, so that they shall fit snugly together, and .thus prevent the passage of oily from the reservoir A to the carburetingchamberB; as, for this latter purpose, the diaphragm n is provided with a number of small holes, q, for the passage of oil from the one chamber to the other when the valve is raised,

and which willshortly be described. Thev 'valve audits port may be modified so asto operate in the manner .shownrin Fig. 3; in

which' case the valve is represented as being made of conical form on its under side, whereit is joined to its stem, and its valve-seat correspondingly made, the .opening for the. passage of the valve-stem being made somewhatlarger than the latter, so as to give freepassage to the oil when the valve is raised. Iii/thisl case the upper sideof the valve, if desired,

ymay be provided with a guide-stem, soV as to take intoa tubular socketl secured to theun- .der side of the top of the valve-chamber,in order to retain the valve in a vertical position 'when raised and lowered.. In either case the `valve closes its port by virtue of its own gravity when the pressure of lever g is withdrawn therefrom.. In theside of valve-chamber N is secured one end of a supply-pipe, r, the otherend of which communicates with the reservoir A at or near its bottom. Over the mouth oftube i', on the inside of' reservoir A, is ar,` ranged a wire-netting, in order to prevent the sawdust or other fibrous material contained in thatchamber from entering therein and choking up its passage. This netting may leither be secured directlyk to the mouth of the *pipe or to the interior side and Vbottom ofL reservoir A, in any known and vsuitable man'-L 'ner. The ends and sides of float-chamber H may be extended aboveits roof and a fiatY diaphragm or partition, O, secured thereto,- the peripheryof which is turned down, so as., to leave a space between its outer edge and the wall of chamber B, as `shown in Fig.2,

thereby forming a' 'gas or air distributing chamber, P. Into the top of this chamber is inserted the end'of-a pipe, Q, which supplies the air or city gasto becarbureted.' The pipe v passage of the' oil contained in the bottom of l chamber.

Q, for this purpose, in the one case, will'be attached to the gasHservice-pipe of the house in which the apparatus is-ito be used, and in the other case to the ordinary'air-forcing apl paratus in use for Asimilar purposes, in order to give passage, to the carbureting-.chambers, to the air or gas thus supplied to chamber'P, the end walls of theV lattern being provided with an opening or openings, s, for its passage into the lowest compartmentV. "The ends of chamber H,at the bottom `of the latter, are also provided with similar openings, t, for the chamber Bto the interior orV chamber H, by which means lloat K is raised and lowered according to the amount of oil contained in that Thus constructed, the operation is as follows: Tank A is first filled with the gasoline or other hydrocarbon oil or compound from whose vaf pors the air or gas is to be carbureted. At this stage, when thereservoir is being first filled, oat K will rest on the bottom e of chamber B, thereby opening valve l and allowing the oil from chamber A to Viow Ainto the upper compartment, F2, of the carbureting-chamber B, and thence through its small tube b into the next compartment below,'and so on through the tubes olv-into each offthe other compartments in succession, until it reaches the lowest compartment V of chamberB, saturating, by

capillary attraction, in its course, the porous material E contained 'in the ,several compartments, and afterward' collecting in the lowermost compartment of chamber B, and which is also filled'with poro'uslor absorbent'material until its accumulation' gradually raisesV iioat K sufficiently far to depress that end of lever g which bears against the lower end of the stem of slide-valve l, thereby allowing the latter to descend until it closes the valve port or ports g, throughwhichthe oil from chamber A ows into chamber B. In this,

condition the apparatus is ready for use.

Where it is intended to be used in' connection with the service-pipesof a house which uses city gas, in order `tolenrich' the latter with the vapors of the hydrocarbon-oil with which the apparatus is filled, pipe Q is suitably connected withfthe eduction-pipe of the gas-meter, and-piped with the service-pipe of the house. `Thus connected, the pressure of the gas as it 'issues from the meterforces the gas through pipe Q into chamber P, and thence through openings s intolthe lower compartment of chamberB Awhence itpasscs through lower tube d into the next compartment above of chamber 'B5 thence through the porous' material of the latterup through next tube d into the compartment above; thence through its porous and saturated material into the next chamber above 5' andsp onthrough each compartment successively, flowing in a zigzag directiomuntil it nally emerges into the uppermost compartment, F2, andV which is only partially filled with the porous material,

`ner and orfwhich may be 'd left entirely unfilled with said material, so Vas not to clog-the operation of lever gand valve. From this chamber it passes through a tube, T,secured to the bottom G of chamber A, and which extends above the line of the sawdustin the latter chamber, thus forming a communication between Acompartment F2 of chamber B and the gas chamber or reservoir U,forn1ed by the vaulted roof Sof chamber A', and thence through tube a into the service-pipes of the house to the gasburners for consumption. By this process the gas is enriched by absorbing a portion ofthe vapors'of the hydrocarbon oils with which the sawdust is charged in the di'erent compartments'ofV chamber B.

The process is the same where air is used, it dii'ering only in this, that pipe Q is suitably connected with a fan or other device for forcingl a current of air through Q into chamber P, and thence through chamber V into the other carbureting-compartments of chamber B, up and into reservoir U, and from there throughl pipe a into the service-pipes of the house for use, as before; or, if desired, instead of passing directly from chamber. U through the service-pipe for use,rit may, if deemed desirable or necessary, first be passed through an air-mixer for further admixture with air, andthen, through suitable connections with the air-mixer and the service-pipes ofthe house, conducted to the burners for use, as bef. fore,f`-/Tle rise of the oilinthe lowest-compartment V through the openings in chamber H correspondingly iills the latter and causes oat K to rise until, through the 'consequent depression of levers f and g, the feed-valve Z is allowed to vdescend and icnt oifthe .further supply of oil from chamber A. This condition of things will remain until the oiLconl tained in bottom chamber V has been pretty well absorbed by the air or gas passing through the porous and absorbingmaterial contained therein, and which, as absorbed, allows float" K gradually to descend, thereby again raising valve Z and allowing the oil to flow from reservoir A into chamber B, as before. Meanwhile, as the oil in chamber V has been thus absorbed, the `oil in the upper compartments, which accumulated in the lower side of each, supplies ,thenecessary material for the continuing of the saturating process after the4 supply has been cut off by the closing of the valve l.

Having vthus described my invention, what I claim as new,-and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is- Y 1. The combination of the reservoir A, carbureting-chamber B, valve-chamber-Wi, and y automatic lift-valve l, the whole being con-l structed, arranged, and `operated in the manf for the purposes substantially as set orth.

2. `The carbureting-chamber B, dividedintoa series of compartments by means of inclined partitions F, having short overio'w-tubes d, arranged inthe manner and for the purposes set forth.

3. The carbureting-chamber B, divided into a series of compartments by inclined partitions F, filled With porous material and provided with overflow-tubes d, arranged as described, when used in connection with the pipe Q and chamber P for the supply of air or gas to be, carbureted, and with tube T, reservoir U, and exit opening or tube a, all operating in the manner and for the purpose substan tially as set forth.

4. Chambers B and H, oat K, and levers f and g, in combination with lift-valve l and valve-chamber m, the whole being arranged and operated in the manner andl for the purposes set forth.

5.- Valve-chamber m, las constructed and arranged With relation to the reservoir A and carbureting-ehamber B, for the purposes set forth.

In testimony that I claimv the foregoing as my own I affix my signature iu presence of two witnesses.

BENJAMIN F. GRIMES.

Witnesses:

D. G. STUART, P. HANNAY. 

